by Zoha Kazemi
“What did you know about Armina?” he asks.
“Nothing! It was the first time I heard her name,” she replies. He goes on asking whether she had heard anything about the parallel Saviour Narratives, about the Parsana Ship that holds the Saviour’s only heir. Armina had told him all the sea people knew about her. Dalia stops him.
“People of the sea have their own account of events, they tell their own tales and all of them think theirs is the truth and other tales are just myths… Armina is no different!” she says. Tirad had heard this many times before, but he can’t just put aside one narrative for another.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t believe either of them, nor would I disregard them both. It doesn’t matter what had happened many years ago and who had done what. Only the things happening now, matter.”
“Well…things that happen now are the result of the past events!” Tirad says excitedly.
“The things happening now are only the result of what people want. They will do anything to get what they need. They would even change their past to their own liking, telling the tale that would serve them better now,” Dalia says yawning. She wants to sleep but Tirad is more excited and starts explaining to her about Hurmaz’s documents. She listens with disinterest. Tirad shows her the lines about purchasing the fishing boats and exporting large fish. She doesn’t know how to read but looking at the written lines brings her around. She takes a long pause, thinking and putting her memories in order. Tirad thinks she was too tired before and she usually needs more time to reach her memories, not that she didn’t want to help. She starts recalling her father.
“My father is a diver. He dives out metals, rebar and iron plates and girder. But Oxan doesn’t allow us to dive on the drowned cities of Tehran, Tabriz and Rasht. We were given special quotas to dive. Each ship can go to these cities only three times per year. We are sent to smaller cities where we usually don’t find anything useful,” she explains and pauses again, thinking what to say next. Tirad encourages her to go on.
“It was last year… The beginning of the rain season. Three fishing boats came to Avij and wanted us to give them experienced fishers. We sent off three teams, each around fifteen men and women. We didn’t have many fishers so we sent off divers instead. None of the boats came back… My father went with them…” she says, pausing again. Tirad looks at her with keen eyes, wanting to know more.
“I really don’t know about these things… But if they needed my help, I would go diving with them. The last two years my mother wasn’t well, and I would stay with her more. I was never too curious about the fishing boats. I was more worried about my mother at the time,” she says annoyed and exhausted. Tirad thanks her and kisses her good night. He knows talking is difficult for her as swimming is for Tirad. Dalia sleeps with the lullaby of the raindrops drumming on the cabin roof. He lies down beside her. He still doesn’t know what to do? Should they really go to Avij and live an ordinary ship life? Hurmaz wanted this for him, and that’s why he had given him the Parsana handwritten pages and her exile sentence and wanted him to meet Armina. The Saviour and Parsana had chosen a simple life on the ship, they were married and had children on the Parsana Ship and had passed away in there. Maybe he should give in to his newly found narrative about the Saviour’s life. There is nothing behind him, his past never existed the way he imagined it. The pure and simple life of the Saviour Ship was only a deep sleep that he has woken from, it was all just illusions that he can no longer believe in. He still can have a future and a life to look forward to on the Avij ship with Dalia.
Chapter 29
The roof of the paper warehouse is dripping. Mart wipes a drop from his forehead and moans. The rainfall has created a buzzing sound in the warehouse. Moaning does not suffice, Mart starts cursing at the workers who couldn’t stop the leak. But the raining sound is too loud and the workers can’t hear his swearing, they are continuing their work without saying anything. Two workers tear up the books and throw them into the shallow, water pool and three of them stir the paper slush. Two more are spreading the slurry on a net mould and the moulds are piled up by the warehouse wall, a few steps away. Mart has not come there to monitor the workers. He has come to make sure the last part of books was transferred to the warehouse. He needs to make sure nothing is left of the books and the workers have turned them all into slurry pulps. He watches with great joy as the books are ripped apart, torn into small pieces, mixed with the soap made from fish fat and turn into a dull slush. He shouts at the workers telling them to work faster and not to put to waist the wage they are being paid by the Saviour Ships. Mart hears Akhgar’s voice and turns to him.
Akhgar is wearing a long colourful robe, made of purple and red fabrics, the appropriate clothes of a First Disciple. Mart admires him. He too has ordered fine clothes for the important Saviour Ship ceremonies but he wouldn’t wear them, not in this rain and when coming to the paper warehouse. Akhgar is frowning, holding a piece of paper in his hand. He gives the letter to Mart and starts explaining the contents of it with a furious yet upset tone.
“I’m sorry! It’s bad news! I know how close you were with Yuma…” Akhgar says, trying to decelerate his explanation to be slower than Mart’s reading speed. He wants him to read the news first and then hear it from him.
“They were close to the Parsana Ship. No one really knows what happened, but the fish had attacked their boat… We also heard their boat was wrecked in the storm. But our boats can stand the storms! One of the boatmen has survived. He was on the water for a few weeks and they say he has lost his mind…” Akhgar continues. Mart finishes reading the letter and tears it up furiously, throwing the pieces of paper into the slurry. He doesn’t say anything. He is happy in his heart that he hadn’t gone to find Tirad. Yuma, his dearest, most trusted friend had given his life for him this time. He is also glad that Tirad was not arrested; otherwise, they would lose their excuse to attack Atlan, even though he wonders how Tirad had hid himself in these four months.
“We shall hold an outstanding Parting Ceremony for them. We need everyone to feel raged for Yuma’s death: the first victim of the war!” Mart says excitedly, but Akhgar stops him.
“Of course! But I think we shouldn’t bring up the war…not just yet. We don’t want people to feel scared again and flee to the islands… One step at a time!” Akhgar says. But Mart is less patient than ever. He complains saying that they have already taken the first steps and they should start justifying the war for people. Yuma’s death is the best opportunity. They can even say he was killed by Tirad like the naval guard and the refugees and now Atlan has given him sanctuary. He asks what they are waiting for. Akhgar puts his hand on Mart’s shoulder, waiting for him to break and cry. But Mart is too reserved, not allowing himself to burst into tears. He will not cry, not for anyone’s death, not even for Yuma and especially not in front of these lowborn, worthless workers who are trying to figure out their conversation even though the rain sound wouldn’t allow them.
“Tirad is not in Atlan! All we know is that he was last seen in Parsana… We have no idea where he is… And if he doesn’t go to Atlan, we can’t claim anything,” Akhgar replies. Mart raises his voice saying it doesn’t matter where Tirad is and what he is doing. They don’t need for Atlan to declare Tirad’s arrival! They can just lie to people, saying Tirad has fled to Atlan. In this way, people will feel safe from the mad disciple that might attack their ships and burn them and they would have their excuse to start the war on Atlan. He insists they should start sooner, before the sea people forget all about Tirad. He believes they shouldn’t wait for the rain season to end.
“We must attack while people are still mourning the loss of their refugee family and friends,” Mart stubbornly insists, standing with folded arms. Akhgar says they should continue their conversation in his chambers. Mart agrees, he shouts for one last time at one of the workers who is holding a mould unstably and walks behind Akhgar, stepping outside the warehouse.
Two guard
s with umbrellas are standing by the warehouse door and start walking by Mart and Akhgar, holding the umbrellas above their heads all the way from the warehouse to the stranded ship and the entrance of the Saviour Ship cabins. Mart and Akhgar remain silent on the way. It’s no use speaking in the rain that has filled the whole air and if they want to hear each other, they need to speak loudly and such conversations need to be said quietly and secretly. The pilgrims, residents and the guards respectfully make way for them as they walk in the short and narrow alleys of the Saviour Island. Akhgar bends his head slightly to thank them but Mart walks on the new cobble paving of the island, ignorantly. The paving was done under his direct orders to avoid dust in the dry season and mud in the rain season. The residents of the Island are thankful for the paving and the Ship residents are happy for the electrical power of the ship. That was done under his orders too, getting rid of the stench of the oil lamps and carrying torches all around. The electrical cabling of the Ship was Mart’s own desire for a long time but the paving is not relevant to him. Yet he knows such small progressions would keep people happy and satisfied residents are less likely to undermine the Circle’s acts. He needs to keep the satisfaction going every once in a while, with small but effective changes. The next step would be to conduct a roof over the Island alleys! But not now, after the war.
Akhgar and Mart step inside. They pass the corridor and go down the stairs to the lowest floor. Mart’s new cabin is next to Akhgar’s, the same cabin that used to be the forbidden library. The common library is used as a storage room for guns and ammos. The humming sound of the rainfall does not reach this floor; instead, there is a deep silence. They stand in front of the cabin doors. Akhgar points to Mart’s new cabin and asks if he is happy. Mart thanks him for it and they both enter the cabin that once used to belong to Hurmaz, the cabin of the First Disciple. The large, round table still stands in the middle of the room but the bookshelves are empty. The bookshelves have been brought forward and behind them the boxes of Saviour coins are placed. The cabin looks smaller than before. Mart and Akhgar sit behind the round table.
“Did you find Hurmaz’s documents among the books you turned to paper slush?” Akhgar starts the conversation. Mart says no.
“You don’t need to worry about them. I’ve been thinking…if such documents even exist, only those would understand them that know how to read, and I couldn’t think of anyone who was able to read and is not already involved in our affairs!” Mart explains with a spark in his eye. Akhgar understands but he still looks worried.
“What about the third disciples? Tirad’s students like Bamin, Mahzad and Farnab? Or the missioners?” Akhgar asks. Mart says he has handled them all. The missioners were summoned to come and fight and they will be given commands of the army divisions and battles which should keep them satisfied and occupied. The same goes for the third-tier disciple. They all could be bought either with coins or with an important commanding role in the war. Mart says if they are kept happy, they will not act against them, even if they get hold of the documents.
“Then why did you destroy the books so fast? We could have at least waited until the dry season… I would have emptied the cabin for you but we could have kept the book,” Akhgar asks. Mart replies, smiling. He says they need paper. There are at least five hundred ships that they need to send letters to asking them to send men as soldiers. Akhgar understands again and nods.
“If we had kept the books, the maids and pilgrims would have stolen from them…and we had to buy paper, spending so much money! Don’t worry! It will be finished soon, at most four days from now,” Mart explains and Akhgar agrees.
“I think we should keep the warehouse. We could buy cheap used paper and recycle it, producing more paper. It will not be too profitable, but it’s better than nothing.” Mart suggests in a respectful tone. Akhgar approves and grants him the paper warehouse license. Mart hides his excitement. He didn’t think Akhgar would believe him so easily when he had said the business would not be profitable. But Akhgar seems to be in a good mood today. He should persuade him to order the attack. He keeps his respectful tone and starts his request with an introduction. He says the boats have reached the Oxan naval and they can start any time. He then proposes his time table.
“The summoning letters for soldiers will be sent by the end of the week, ordering them to be ready at the naval by two weeks’ time and prepare for the battle. The food supply and clothes are already in the naval storages. We will have to send the guns when they are all set. We shall raid Parsana first and then sail to Atlan. By the end of the rain season, Atlan would be in our hands!” Mart says hoping for a quick positive response. But Akhgar will not accept it so easily.
“It’s not as simple as you think! Many unexpected things happen in wars. We still don’t know how much Atlan knows about our attack. Any of the sellers could have told them, the boat sellers or the procurers of guns and arms or even the ship that we ordered the soldiers uniforms from. If they know of our plans, they might be prepared,” Akhgar replies while Mart stops his sentence saying he had foreseen this, having paid them enough money not to sell the same equipment to their enemies. But Akhgar doesn’t agree with him. He says they are not fully prepared yet. He also has another worry.
“Our treasuries are empty. We can’t pay the soldiers or their families. If they know we are not going to give them any coins, they might not fight,” he says. But Mart argues with him, saying they have ordered to kill any soldier that refuses to fight. He doesn’t understand why Akhgar is so hesitant. So far, everything has played out according to their plan and it will go on the same. When they usurp Atlan, their treasury will be full again and they will give soldiers not only their wages but rewards. Akhgar knows all this but he is still anxious and unsure.
“Isn’t this what we wanted? We have been planning for it for five years now! Please tell me what really worries you?” Mart asks in a polite tone.
“I’m not sure… Maybe I always thought in my heart that we would be caught somewhere along the way… I never really thought we would reach this day!” Akhgar answers. Mart sneers.
“It’s not too late! Anyone could quit anytime and stay on the Saviour Ship living their life the way they always had… Or run away like Tirad did… But they will not have any shares after our victory!” He says indirectly but still Akhgar seems to have been upset by his rude gesture.
“We have voted for you and will always have your back!” Mart continues trying to soften Akhgar. But he seems too engaged in his thoughts and more worried. Mart doesn’t understand whether Akhgar is resisting losing the peaceful life he already has, or he is worried about the lives that will be lost in the war. The first seems more probable, having known him for a long time. It’s probably because of his age. Maybe if Mart had reached his midlife, he wouldn’t want to engage himself in so much trouble; he would have preferred to sit in his cabin on the lowest floor of the Ship and count his coins. But Mart is at least twenty years younger than Akhgar. Life has just started for him and he has so much time to rest in the future. He is not going to settle for what he has now and retire so early. The more he can gain while he is young, the more he can feel secure in the future. Thinking about retirement is so farfetched. He has many great plans and the war is only the first step. Could it be that Akhgar has guessed about his long term plans? But he has never talked about them to anyone, not even to Yuma. No one knows his inner desires to over throw the Circle after the war and become the First Disciple and take absolute power. He will change the Saviour Rules as he sees fit and even make up some new appropriate and applicable rules. He may even be able to reach all this with minimum bloodshed. The blood spill in the war with Atlan is inevitable, but how many lives would he need to take to become the First Disciple? He is still not sure. Anyhow, the war order needs to come from the First Disciple and it is Akhgar for now. Mart will not be able to persuade him to give the order yet, not before the dry season. Akhgar and the Circle are right to some extent, it will
be dangerous to sail in the storms and they might lose some boats in the thunders. But he should insist on it now, otherwise he might put it off completely; he needs constant reminding and continuous justifications. Akhgar has another matter he wants to discuss.
“The reforms of the Saviour Rules!” Akhgar says. Mart listens carefully although they were to hold on the idea until after the war.
“The Circle has asked me to talk to you about them. You are the main person against the reforms!” he continues. Mart knows what he wants to say. He doesn’t want the reforms to take place now, not according to the taste of Akhgar. He wants to postpone it to after their victory but Akhgar seems to be in a hurry for such changes. Maybe he is right; he has already waited too long, living by Hurmaz’s manners. If this is what worries Akhgar, perhaps Mart should rethink his attitude, play along to make them feel happier, and get his war order sooner. He lets Akhgar finish his words.
“How many bastard children do you have? I can’t even count mine! We can’t bring them all to the Saviour Ship and say they were outcast orphans of this fisher or that whore…” Akhgar continues. He believes the rule that prevents the disciples from getting married and have children is the most corrupting rule and it discourages people from wanting to join the Ship. On the other hand, the disciples are left without heirs. He wants Mart to think more thoroughly about all the coins, wealth and power that he is going to gain.
“What are we going to do with all that wealth? Would it not be more convenient and more reassuring if we could leave them behind for our children like the Oxan chiefs? Instead of giving them away to the Saviour treasury, spent on the free food for the pilgrims?” Akhgar asks. Mart agrees. It is what he wants too. But he only wants it for himself, not for the rest them that he is planning to get rid of very soon; they better owe their money to the Saviour treasury for now!
